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Gutenberg

Located in the heart of Altstadt Mainz is the Gutenberg Museum, built to honor Johannes Gutenberg, inventor of the moveable type press and most famous for producing the first printed Bible.  Considered the most valuable printed book ever made, a complete set (2 volumes) is worth somewhere on the order of 25+million dollars.  The museum has one and a half copies, plus several other valuable books all held in a maximum security vault on the top floor.   We dragged the kids there this Saturday, and they were all less than impressed.  Although, Zak pointed out that the vault doors were the same as the doors on the vaults at the national museum of Rome, where we saw old money.  

The museum is full of exhibits on the history of printing in Asia, Europe and Islam along with replicas of things like the Rosetta Stone.  You can see that Deanna was not impressed.  However, Zak, who recently read The Red Pyramid, was totally thrilled.  Until he realized it was a fake, and then he asked me when we are going to the British National museum.  Hopefully he doesn't intend to blow it up. . . 

Autumn Colors

My favorite season is full of reds, browns, yellows and more browns.  I love Autumn, especially when there is wind in the air and sunshine abundant.  My kids don't understand my obsession with hiking up the hill just to look at leaves, although No was easy to convince as long as there were acorns to find.  The only cloud on the horizon on these glorious, sunny days is the oncoming dark of winter.  We're already down to 10 hours of light, which will only decrease in the next 2 months.  I love that the communities around us all celebrate the harvest, the end of the sun and try to save up happiness for the oncoming winter, each in their own way.

As for me, I'm trying to savor the colors, and enjoy the sunshine while it lasts!